With the advent of monoclonal antibody technology, it has become clear that there is a growing need to produce human cells and cell products in larger quantities for the treatment of various immunologic, infectious and neoplastic diseases. Verax Corporation has developed a novel system for the mass culture of murine hybridoma cells as well as several proprietary serum-free media. We now propose to extend our development work to studies of human hybridoma cell culture. Of particular interest is an analysis of the feasibility of adapting several human hybridoma cell lines to the proprietary cell immobilizing matrix material. In addition we plan to develop minimal culture medium for the growth and enhanced productivity of these cells when they are immobilized in the collagen matrix. Our preliminary studies with human hybridoma cell lines in batch culture experiments suggest that significant differences exist between human/human and mouse/mouse hybridomas in terms of their growth and immunoglobulin production potential. We plan to define the conditions that are necessary for efficient production of human monoclonal antibodies. While this study will utilize human hybridoma cells, it will open the way for successful mass culture of human cells that make various bioactive and safe therapeutics, e.g., lymphokines, immunomodulators and enzymes.